Guildhall Tavern

As you turn from Whimple Street into the present Buckwell Street the area to your left marks the site of the pre-Victorian, Plymouth Guildhall (still standing up until the Second World War). Built in 1800 it, in turn succeeded the “Old (Jacobean) Guildhall” of 1606 and before that even, this was the location of the old village cross. It was very much the hub of the ancient community of Plymouth.

Small wonder therefore that there were many taverns in its immediate vicinity, including several that overlooked the site, like No.1 Whimple Street, which appears to have been known, around the middle of the nineteenth century as the Guildhall Tavern, becoming the “Old Guildhall Tavern” soon after the completion, in 1873, of the Plymouth’s current Guildhall. Earlier there had been another Guildhall Tavern on the other side of this street and at that time this building was known as the Distillery.